Spatial reasoning is a valuable cognitive tool which enables navigation of the body in relation to other objects in space, permits deconstruction of dimensional forms, allows reconstruction of two-dimensional representations into three-dimensional objects, and facilitates diagramming of processes or concepts. A considerable body of work has suggested that these skills are particularly important for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (reviewed in Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, Journal of Educational Psychology 101: 817-835, 2009); however, much of this data has been derived from studies with relatively narrow populations in terms of participant sex, race, academic ability, or socioeconomic condition and very few of these studies have attempted spatial reasoning training from a diversity of academic disciplines. The current study was designed to assess the influence of a week-long, academically interdisciplinary spatial reasoning Bootcamp on a small, diverse group of female participants’ spatial reasoning abilities and to determine if Participants’ subsequent performance in organic chemistry and physics coursework differed from that of a Match (non-Bootcamp participant) Control group. The data indicate that Bootcamp participants significantly improved their scores in some commonly accepted measures of spatial reasoning abilities and that Bootcamp participants’ final grades in organic chemistry, but not physics, were significantly higher than the Match Control group. The data suggest that intentional programming to improve student spatial reasoning abilities can influence short-term spatial skill performance that may translate into improved success in certain types of subsequent coursework.

空间推理是一种有价值的认知工具，它可以使人体相对于空间中的其他对象进行导航，可以解构维形式，允许将二维表示重建为三维对象，并有助于过程或概念的图示。大量工作表明，这些技能对于科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域的成功尤为重要（Wai，Lubinski和Benbow评介，  《教育心理学杂志》101：817-835，2009）；但是，这些数据大部分来自参与者性别，种族，学术能力或社会经济状况方面相对狭窄的研究，而这些研究中很少有尝试从多种学科中进行空间推理训练的。当前的研究旨在评估为期一周的跨学科空间推理训练营对一小群不同的女性参与者的空间推理能力的影响，并确定参与者随后在有机化学和物理课程中的表现是否与之不同。比赛（非新兵训练营参与者）对照组的成员。数据表明，在一些公认的空间推理能力度量标准中，Bootcamp参与者的得分显着提高，并且Bootcamp参与者的有机化学而不是物理的最终成绩显着高于Match Control组。数据表明，有意进行编程以提高学生的空间推理能力可能会影响短期空间技能的表现，这可能会转化为某些类型的后续课程作业中成功率的提高。